Top positive review

4.0 out of 5 starsSon loves it, looks cool, not the most durable lego creation

ByL. Millison June 25, 2012

My son loves the Star Wars Lego line-- We build them together (though he could do it alone, I'm sure... but he's impatient when he gets them, and this goes quicker!)and then he runs around the house with them and has battles.

His other Lego fighters are pretty sturdy-- You can play with them and crash them and pop pieces off to pretend they're damaged without having too much work figuring out how to replace them-- But I think this TIE Fighter is a little different then, say, the X-wing. The x-wing is a sturdy beast! Even with my son's own modifications (he likes to have a gunner pointing back, since that is where the enemy fire always succeeded in the first movie), we really haven't had too much difficulty with it. That can't be said so emphatically about the TIE Fighter, though it's still a really cool set!

I know someone else commented on another's review that if you want to play with them, you should buy the non-lego play sets for Star Wars-- but the beauty, to me, is that with lego-- you CAN pretend to battle them and have "real" damage. You can also modify them to be better fighters, as my son did with the x-wing. Legos are, after all, toys-- not models.

So... with that in mind-- The TIE Fighter is certainly a more fragile lego toy then the other Star War ships. The side "wings" (or whatever they are) are big and are made of smaller pieces, kept flat, so of course they aren't the most durable structures. I plan to try to get some larger black flat pieces to sort of reinforce the seams a bit. Though this will be less flat, I think it will hold up better. They also attach to the actual "ship" (the little ball in the middle)in kind of a fragile way... and I really don't know how they could've done that better-- But it hasn't been too much of an issue. The only thing is-- when something does "pop" in that area, a major reconstruction is necessary to replace things. (But this is also partly because my son tries to do it himself without consulting the building guide again...)

OVERALL-- it is a pretty faithful reproduction of the ship from the movies, and is very cool-- But if you are getting this for a younger kid that will actually want to battle with it, be sure he knows that it's a more-fragile construction then the other models. My son went into this knowing that (we read reviews before we ordered) and while it's caused a bit of frustration, I still think he is very happy with it and does not regret ordering it! (BTW-- my son is 8)

When I ordered this, it was $5 cheaper then at the lego site. Even so, I still can't give a lego star wars kit 5 stars but that is ONLY BECAUSE OF PRICE. I know a lot of design must go into these things and I don't want to undervalue that aspect-- but in reality, we are talking plastic bricks. When ANY lego set costs 300 bucks (the death star) and it's really just a bunch of plastic bricks, I can't help but think it just may be over priced....

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My son loves the Star Wars Lego line-- We build them together (though he could do it alone, I'm sure... but he's impatient when he gets them, and this goes quicker!)and then he runs around the house with them and has battles.

His other Lego fighters are pretty sturdy-- You can play with them and crash them and pop pieces off to pretend they're damaged without having too much work figuring out how to replace them-- But I think this TIE Fighter is a little different then, say, the X-wing. The x-wing is a sturdy beast! Even with my son's own modifications (he likes to have a gunner pointing back, since that is where the enemy fire always succeeded in the first movie), we really haven't had too much difficulty with it. That can't be said so emphatically about the TIE Fighter, though it's still a really cool set!

I know someone else commented on another's review that if you want to play with them, you should buy the non-lego play sets for Star Wars-- but the beauty, to me, is that with lego-- you CAN pretend to battle them and have "real" damage. You can also modify them to be better fighters, as my son did with the x-wing. Legos are, after all, toys-- not models.

So... with that in mind-- The TIE Fighter is certainly a more fragile lego toy then the other Star War ships. The side "wings" (or whatever they are) are big and are made of smaller pieces, kept flat, so of course they aren't the most durable structures. I plan to try to get some larger black flat pieces to sort of reinforce the seams a bit. Though this will be less flat, I think it will hold up better. They also attach to the actual "ship" (the little ball in the middle)in kind of a fragile way... and I really don't know how they could've done that better-- But it hasn't been too much of an issue. The only thing is-- when something does "pop" in that area, a major reconstruction is necessary to replace things. (But this is also partly because my son tries to do it himself without consulting the building guide again...)

OVERALL-- it is a pretty faithful reproduction of the ship from the movies, and is very cool-- But if you are getting this for a younger kid that will actually want to battle with it, be sure he knows that it's a more-fragile construction then the other models. My son went into this knowing that (we read reviews before we ordered) and while it's caused a bit of frustration, I still think he is very happy with it and does not regret ordering it! (BTW-- my son is 8)

When I ordered this, it was $5 cheaper then at the lego site. Even so, I still can't give a lego star wars kit 5 stars but that is ONLY BECAUSE OF PRICE. I know a lot of design must go into these things and I don't want to undervalue that aspect-- but in reality, we are talking plastic bricks. When ANY lego set costs 300 bucks (the death star) and it's really just a bunch of plastic bricks, I can't help but think it just may be over priced....

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Being someone who's not in the suggested age range for such a toy, obviously my opinion will be a little different from a kid's. That said, this piece looks great. Absolutely badass and is pretty much a must have. If you can get it for ~$0.10/piece, then go for it. But, the reason why it's not perfect is the build is absolutely boring as heck. As is expected given the complexity of the ship itself, and the fact that it's just mainly two big "wings". It's definitely wise to build both wings at the same time, but on the other hand, that decreases the length of the build time. But given how boring a build it is, it's better to just get it over with and get to the final presentation. Several people have said that it's flimsy, but i've had no problems with mine. The key is with the final "bracket" pieces that you slide on to each individual wing before sliding the wing onto the center cockpit piece. You gotta make sure you press each leg onto the wing solidly and INDIVIDUALLY. Once you do, this thing isn't gonna fall apart. If your 8 yr old kid is trying to accomplish this, then that's probably why it's falling apart so easily. That bracket needs a pretty good amount of force to get the studs into the female receptors.

At the end of the day, way too quick a build, but it looks fantastic. Would love to have a squadron of these, but at the price point, that'd be hard to do.

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Several good aspects about this set. Would recommend purchasing it.- Good price per piece for a SW LEGO set- One of the best, if not the best, TIE Fighter builds for a regular (not including UCS) LEGO. They have made several over the years.- The cockpit is nice, and has a unique canopy piece. Nice the way it opens.- Sturdy construction, so it can be swooshed without falling apart.- Minifigs included with the set are very nice- The colors of the LEGOS used for the model are nice looking.- Looks good on display

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This is the first LEGO set I have purchased and assembled in a good many years. So, I decided that with some extra income I should take the dive and finally put one together. I chose the TIE Fighter because it seemed fairly priced for what the set contained and I'm a bit of a sucker for the fighter itself (I'd prefer it be a TIE Interceptor, but I won't be picky).

The instruction booklet was easy to read, contained large, helpful illustrations, and was just plain nicely put together. I seem to remember booklets being a lot more vague and smaller back in the day. The pieces themselves were all there (In fact, I had a few extra small bits) and fit together exactly as intended.

I think this probably took me somewhere around an hour and a half, perhaps two hours to build, and that was without any particular focus being put into it since I wanted to savor the build. The end result is a good size and displays very nicely. I personally like to pretend it is sitting in the hanger being serviced by the pilot and astromech while the guard guards and the officer supervises.

Overall, it was a spectacular bit of fun and I'd recommend the set to others.

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This TIE Fighter was a great build. I have several minifig scale Star Wars models and a big fan of this one. It's a great recreation from the movie and has a lot of detail. As always the instructions were easy to follow, and I really like the numbered bags for a more structured build. I'm not sure why LEGO doesn't do this with all their sets over a few hundred bricks.

I don't play with these much - more for display than anything else, but I imagine this would hold up well to fairly rigorous play.

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I purchased the x-wing fighter for my 4.5 year old son and he loved it, but he needed a "bad guy", so I grabbed this TIE fighter.

The build was very easy. My son did almost all of it by himself with little direction from me. It is relatively sturdy and withstands his games quite well. It is large and is a good match to the x-wing. In my opinion, the glass of the cockpit is too dark and you can't see the pilot. Other than that, no complaints.

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I got this for my son's fifth birthday and he absolutely loves it! He's clearly under the recommended age range, and i sat with him while he assembled it and he had no problems. On a couple of the steps where you had to do something twice, he did one side while i did the other side so it wouldn't take so long. But he really enjoyed putting this together, i really enjoyed helping, and he loves playing with it!

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This is intended as a Christmas gift for my 8 year old son. He's a star wars fanatic for some reason. He has many star wars Legos and loves them all. No Legos sit for very long without being played with or created into something. So, that's why 5 stars. I know this will be a hit. It keeps him thinking, creating and away from TV and video games.

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I saw the Tie Fighter in stores and online and thought it didn't look very interesting or fun to play with so I never got it. But I wanted more ships to play with with my kids so I finally ordered it and it turned out to be one of my favorites.

It's very sturdy and well designed. My 4 year old, who is constantly breaking the other ships, can play with this one and I don't have to worry about him being too rough with it.

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Well, this getting to be hard to find version of the iconic TIE fighter was delivered and promptly put together and added to my collection. I have to say it is far and away better designed than the ones I have from the older sets. Great model for the price, and a beautiful addition to my Lego Original Trilogy collection!